Chaiyot Poopapanapong
Despite the broken cables and dark lights spotted on many of the city’s
closed-circuit television cameras, Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome insists the city
isn’t putting up fake cameras and is actively investing in the security
system.
Mayor
Itthiphol Kunplome says CCTV cameras, like this one overlooking the beach,
are real, not fake like some in Bangkok.
Several hundred million baht has been spent since 2006 to install 350
real-time cameras around the Pattaya area to monitor traffic and crime. But
Itthiphol admits many of the cameras have fallen into disrepair due to poor
maintenance and that cynics couldn’t be faulted for thinking the city was
installing “dummy” cameras instead of the real thing.
That couldn’t be farther from the truth, the mayor said. He has already
requested 38 million baht to repair broken cameras and prevent Pattaya’s
CCTV system from reaching the joke status it has attained in Bangkok.
The city, he said, also has plans to install another 50 more cameras,
including some on Koh Larn, at a cost of 60 million baht by the end of 2012.
Long-term plans call for expanding the system until 1,000 cameras cover the
area.
